Water to Air intercooler for street/drift use
 

Okay, so I'm planning on doing a water to air set up for the street (oh my god!) and for drift use. I'm concerned that a front mount air to air won't get adequate flow during extreme drift maneuvers, and I like the added benefit of running alot smaller intercooler with less piping for quicker spool. Plus i want to try something new. Another side note, I'll be using E85 which I hope will make it easier to not heat soak.
I'd like to mount the core in the stock top mount location (this is for an FC) so i can have super short piping.

My question is: who has experience with water to air intercoolers? has anyone used it for the street or for track use? I'm trying to figure out what size core will be adequate along with what volume of water I can expect to use.

what about an air to air intercooler with an intercooler spray? I have this on my evo and it works fine. the spray drops the temps pretty low...best of both worlds

It's not really the best of both worlds because I'm still running long piping. Plus, the water to air is a passive system, theres no button I have to spray or any fluid to fill up

i have a few friends that have a water to air setup.
the main problem on the street is,keeping the water cold / cool enough all the time for it to do any effect for street. unless you want to keep adding ice to keep it cold.

you could do a few things. there is a few liquids you could run threw the system to help it stay cold.some you would not want to drive around on the street with so be careful what you chose.

you should be useing two small or one big water radiators, to cool the water for the inter-cooler for street use.if you put the air to water cooler some place other then the stock area, you could put the water cooler under the scoop so it gets fresh air which will help with cooling.
there like a oil cooler didnt know what else to call them.

you could try what me and my friend are going to try. we own a 84 rs turbo capri. think mustang fox body if you dont know what a capri is.

where going to have a FIMC, with a air to water setup. like the bottom one in the pic. mounted after the inter cooler .
http://www.absoluteradiator.com/imag...tercoolers.jpg

we have the hood on the capri that alot of 1st gen guys use. where going to stick the water cooler between the hood and scoop at a angel(we moded the scoop so) its taller). and just run the water like on the under the hood out of the way.

may sound over kill but we plan to have max boost over 20psi so the colder the better. mind you this will be a street car.

you could have an aluminum fabricator convert a stock intercooler to water- I
did this with an apex front mount- there would be fittment issues to deal with.
You also can get a spearco catlaog and choose a core to be fabbed to your specs.

I never considered air i/c and water- hmmmmmmm.

I always thought about it..and I think it work great for relatively short term use...lets say the first 20 - 30 mins of driving. Why i say that is..the high heat capacity of the water will absorb the heat of the hot compressed air very well and keep it at close to ambient temps. But after a constant flow of relatively hot air throught the system the water itself will start to get to warm..and it will take a while to loose the heat..so that will be the big prob. the water it self will get heat soaked and not radiate the stored heat as quickly as a IC would. So in a nutshell..it will hold down the temps for longer that a air to air IC initially, but after an extended journey it may retain the heat even longer. Thats my THEORY...my GUESS

For drift use it should work great...because then you can always load it with cold water or ice and that will keep it cool for the duration of the drift session..but the filling with ice or cold water for daily use just doesnt work

Air/Water intercoolers are not meant for the street. You end up with a more expensive and complicated system with no added benefit outside of about 30 mins of street driving. Now a drag or drift car is a completely different story. I wouldn't waste my time or money though for the street.

OMG, hurry up and build it already!

Back at ya max!

Jackson

I use the term 'street' loosely. This car will see some trips to meets and dyno days, and trips to track. Thats about it. I dont see how it's going to hurt if I'm just cruising on the highway. Also, keep in mind olenty of factory cars like the Ford GT use a w/a successfully for street and track use.

sorry! I'm gonna hire this guy named 'bus' to build my car, I heard he whips entire project cars out in like 45 minutes.

If your going to use E85 and not run a shit ton of boost, just run the TMIC and get on with your life :)

we're using an evaporator core from my 91 rx7 in my brother's 79 rx7 (see sig) to cool the "liquid" for the water/ air intercooler and never had a problem with temps. It's a street car and was mostly driven for much more than 30 mins at a time. Sometimes 2 - 3 hrs. or more. I personally think that using a large evap core (thoroughly cleaned out that is) works the best.

Theres also the additional weight of the water and heat exhcanger to consider if weight bothers you

thats awesome thanks for posting first hand experience

400-500rwhp can make due with a bit more weight

what kinda ait do you normally get when driving round town in traffic etc
?

^^ I'll be able to find out next week or maybe the week after. The set up I just mentioned is being used in the "newer" car and the exhaust is getting finished up and then it gets inspected, so it should be driving around by the end of next week.
I'm having trouble remembering because it's been 2 1/2 years now. I remember it having the same temps as an air/air setup or something and I don't remember the temps really going up while sitting still like my friend's air/air setup does.
I'll let you know

ok, well, almost 3 weeks later.......
Well, I took a quick 2 mile cruise at about 45 mph and with about 68 - 70 degree ambient temps, the intake temps were fluctuating from about 90 - 100. It seemed to go down to 90 when I was at a measly 5 psi at about 4k rpms. I'm trying to figure out what else I can do to keep it cooler....
BTW, I have a turbo "beanie" and the downpipe and wastegate pipe wrapped.

90*- 100* Celsius? What size water lines and heat exchange are you using? Pics would help.

-J

well, I forgot to add (and realize) something important...
The belly pan isn't on there, as well as the lower half of the bumper which will help to create a "tunneling" effect for the air.
I'm thinking of adding a small air/air intercooler on there as well. It'll go from the turbo, to the air/air, then to the water/air. Just an idea for now though.

Sorry, I didn't specify. those are degrees in Fahrenheit. Megasquirt displays in Fahrenheit for temps, but in kpa for pressure. The water lines kind of "fluctuate", due to different sizes I'm dealing with. The intercooler has 1/2' barb fittings, the reservoir has 1/2", the pump (actually a fuel pump for a carb'd engine) is 3/8", the evaporator core (the "radiator") is 3/8", and the Cool Can is 1/2". So, it's 1/2" from the reservoir, and then converted halfway to 3/8" for the pump, then that stays the same till after the evap. core, then back up to 1/2" for the cool can, then stays that way to the intercooler and then back to the reservoir.

Well, these pics are from about 3 - 4 months ago, but here's a few:

Attachment 720483

Attachment 720484

Attachment 720485

yo check it son.

get end tanks welded onto the stock top mount, and there ya go.

also, the more water in the tank and in the system usually means that the water will take longer to heat up.

plsu you can friggin add ice to it.

Interesting, I haven't thought of that. Thanks for the idea :)